Elon Musk’s abrupt suspension of several journalists who cover Twitter There is a widening gap between social media platforms and media organisations that used it to increase their audience.
On Thursday, individual reporters from The New York Times and The Washington Post were unable to access their accounts.
Musk The company tweeted Friday night that it would lift suspensions based on the public results. poll You can find it on this site. The poll The results showed that 58.7% of respondents preferred a move immediately to suspend accounts, over 41.3% who believed the suspensions should be lifted within seven days.
However, the company did not explain why accounts had been closed. But Musk It was taken to Twitter Thursday night, to say journalists had shared private information about him that he didn’t know. “basically assassination coordinates.” He didn’t provide evidence supporting that claim.
Numerous advertisers have stopped advertising Twitter over content moderation questions after Musk The platform was purchased by him in October. Now, he is at risk of rupturing relations with media organisations, some of which are the most active.
All journalists are not reinstated
Most accounts returned early on Saturday. One exception was Business Insider’s Linette Lopez, who was suspended She spoke out after all the journalists and, again, with no explanation.
Lopez wrote several articles from 2018 to 2021, highlighting the dangerous Tesla Manufacturing Deficits.
Just before being suspendedAccording to her, she has posted documents related to court proceedings. Twitter This included an 2018 Musk email address. Lopez indicated that this address may not be current. “he changes his email every few weeks.”
She posted Tuesday’s 2019 Tesla Troubles story, and she commented. “Now, just like then, most of @elonmusk’s wounds are self inflicted.”
On the same day she also mentioned reports that Musk Lay-offs were denied severance Twitter Lopez threatened employees with violence if they spoke to the media. He also refused to pay rent. Lopez described his actions as “classic Elon-going-for-broke behavior.”
Steve Herman was a national correspondent at Voice of America. suspended Twitter account still hadn’t been fully restored as of Saturday afternoon because of his refusal to delete three tweets that the company flagged for purportedly sharing Musk’s whereabouts. Although Herman’s Twitter timeline is now visible to most users, he said he can’t see it himself nor can he post anything new until he removes the tweets that the company contends violate its revised terms of service.
“I am in a new level of purgatory,” Herman stated. “I do not believe anything I have tweeted violated any reasonable standard of any social media platform.”
Alarms beyond the media channels
Media panic over suspensions spread to other media outlets, including the United Nations. It was rethinking its involvement. Twitter.
This is the move “a dangerous precedent at a time when journalists all over the world are facing censorship, physical threats and even worse,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N.
The reporters’ suspensions followed Musk’s decision Wednesday to permanently ban an account that automatically tracked the flights of his private jet using publicly available data. It also resulted in Twitter to change its rules for all users to prohibit the sharing of another person’s current location without their consent.
Many of these reporters suspended On Thursday, I was writing about the new policy. Musk’s rationale for imposing it, which involved his allegations about a stalking incident he said affected his family Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
Official Twitter Mastodon is a social network that allows you to share your experiences with others. Twitter The ban, which also stated that users were fleeing from the site was in effect. Although it tweeted about jet-tracking accounts, the reason for this ban was not clear. Twitter Mastodon also started to ban users posting links to Mastodon accounts. Some cases even flagged them as possible malware.
“This is of course a bald-faced lie,” Brian Krebs, cybersecurity journalist posted.
To explain the ban of reporters Musk tweeted, “Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else.”
Later, he added: “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not.”
“Doxxing” refers to disclosing someone’s identity, address, phone number or other personal details that violate their privacy and could bring harm.
The Washington Post’s executive editor, Sally Buzbee, said technology reporter Drew Harwell “was banished without warning, process or explanation” After publication of correct reporting Musk.
CNN released a statement saying that “the impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, is concerning but not surprising.”
“Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses Twitter,” The statement was added.
Other suspended journalist, Matt Binder of the technology news outlet Mashable, said he was banned Thursday night immediately after sharing a screenshot that O’Sullivan had posted before his own suspension.
Below is a screenshot of a Los Angeles Police Department statement sent Thursday morning to various media outlets including the AP about the fact that it was in touch. Musk’s representatives about the alleged stalking incident.
Binder claimed that he had not shared any location data with Binder or links to any jet-tracking account, or other location tracking accounts.
“I have been highly critical of Musk but never broke any of Twitter’s listed policies,” Binder stated this in an email.
Suspensions are available in Musk Does major changes to content moderation on Twitter. Through the publication of certain company documents, he has succeeded. “The Twitter Files,” To claim that the platform silenced right-wing voices during its former leaders.
He promised free speech and reinstated prominent accounts previously closed. Twitter’s rules against hateful conduct or harmful misinformation. He stated that he will suppress hate and negativity by depriving certain accounts “freedom of reach.”
‘Whims and biases’
Bari Weiss (opinion columnist), who posted some of “The Twitter Files,” Designed for suspended Journalists to be reinstated
“The old regime at Twitter governed by its own whims and biases and it sure looks like the new regime has the same problem,” She tweeted “I oppose it in both cases.”
The suspensions could lead to the demise of highly-active media organisations. TwitterLou Paskalis (a long-standing marketing executive and ex-head of global media at Bank of America) stated that the platform will be fundamentally changed.
CBS temporarily ceased all activity Twitter in November due to “uncertainty” There is no news about the new management but most media organisations have largely remained on-the platform.
“We all know news breaks on Twitter … and to now go after journalists really saws at the main foundational tent pole of Twitter,” Paskalis said. “Driving journalists off Twitter is the biggest self-inflicted wound I can think of.”
Paskalis stated that the suspensions could be the most significant red flag for advertisers. Some of them had cut back on their advertising spending. Twitter Overconfidence about direction Musk Take the platform.
“It is an overt demonstration of what advertisers fear the most — retribution for an action that Elon doesn’t agree with,” He added.
The Thursday night party will be held at Twitter’s Spaces conference chat went down shortly after Musk abruptly signed out of a session hosted by a journalist during which he had been questioned about the reporters’ ousting. Musk Later, a tweet stated that Spaces was taken offline to deal with a “Legacy bug.” Spaces are back on Friday evening.
Advertisers monitor potential losses of Twitter users. Twitter According to Insider Intelligence’s forecast, 32 million users will be lost over the next 2 years. This is based on technical problems and accounts being returned for posting offensive content.
Others are available for you to use. Twitter alternatives They are growing in popularity.
Mastodon had over 6,000,000 users on Friday, almost double its 3.4 million on Monday. Musk Titled ownership Twitter. Administrators and users of many confederated networks on the open-source Mastodon platform solicited donations from disaffected parties. Twitter The users were unable to access their computing resources. Networks, also known as “instances,” Crowd-funded. It is free of ads.
—Kelvin Chan in London, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Frank Bajak in Boston and Hillel Italie and Edith Lederer in New York contributed to this report
